In 1720 Nicholas B. Langsford immigrated from Plymouth, England to Bardstown, Kentucky. His grandson, also named Nicholas B. Langsford, came to Lee’s Summit in 1877 and purchased what came to be known as the Langsford Farm. The farm ran from just east of current day 291 almost to Todd George Road on the north side of Langsford Road. Nicholas had two sons — Guy and Ray.
Ray Langsford was born in 1877 and lived his life on the farm, selling bedding plants to State Highway and Parks Departments throughout the Southeast. Ray married Bessie Dryden, grandaughter of Lee’s Summit’s first mayor. The farm was sold in the 1960s to a developer where residential neighborhoods were eventually built.
Ray’s son, Nicholas Byrum, “N.B.” Langsford (b. 1905), married Cornelia “Parlee” Harris of Greenwood. Together, they founded what is currently Langsford Funeral Home in 1934, along with a life insurance company and a flower shop in downtown Lee’s Summit. N.B.’s son, Buck and his wife Barbara ran the Funeral Home until 1999, when it was purchased by Buck’s daughter, Sandy Langsford-Cox and her husband Brad Cox, who still currently operate Langsford Funeral Home today.
